The private rescue ship, Ocean Viking operated by Doctors without borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee, picked up a further 34 people in the Mediterranean in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The migrants had issued a distress call on Monday and had been picked up first by a small sailing yacht.
Once a support and rescue vessel for offshore oil platforms, Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking has now embarked upon a mission to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. Here's an upclose look at what a rescue ship looks like from the inside. So, let's meet some of its crew and let them tell us about life aboard...
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said that disastrous EU policies have led to thousands of vulnerable migrants being “trapped on the Greek islands in horrendous conditions.” It noted that there has been a fresh spike in arrivals recently and that children have tried to commit suicide and are engaging in self-harm.
Migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking saved 50 people on Sunday from a rubber dinghy off Libya's coast after Libyan authorities, responsible for search and rescue in that area of the Mediterranean, didn't answer multiple contact attempts. Meanwhile, the crew of German NGO ship Alan Kurdi has reported a new suicide attempt among its rescued migrants.
Sheds occupied by 130 migrants working as day laborers on farms in Metaponto di Bernalda, in the Basilicata province in southern Italy, were cleared by security forces on Wednesday morning. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has expressed concern over what will happen to the migrants now.
France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania have agreed to take in the 356 migrants on board the rescue ship. The ship received permission to disembark the migrants in Malta.
There are 356 migrants on the Ocean Viking ship, which has not been allowed to dock by Italian and Maltese authorities for two weeks. The vessel picked up several groups of migrants but is running out of food.
There is a "psychological emergency" for the migrants on the Ocean Viking, according to Luca Pigozzi, a doctor onboard the rescue ship. The Ocean Viking has been waiting for a port to disembark for almost two weeks.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) denounced that after 10 years of conflict in northeastern Nigeria, living conditions and humanitarian needs remain very serious.
After the fourth rescue in four days, NGO rescue ship Ocean Viking now has over 350 migrants on board waiting for a safe harbor - but the vessel is only equipped to carry 200 to 250 people. Italy and Malta continue to deny entry into their ports.
Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee, which operate the new migrant rescue ship, say the mainly Sudanese men and adolescents were picked up off the coast of Libya during three rescue missions.
As a result of new amendments to Italy’s security decree, fines up to one million euros could be imposed on private rescue organizations who attempt to disembark rescued migrants in Italy or defy refusals to enter Italian waters. The latest amendments were passed into law by Italy’s upper house, the Senate, on Monday, August 5.